As the World Reopens…
PATA CEO Liz Ortiguera shared a message with the PATA community on Apr 22, 2022, with updates about PATA’s events for the second half of the year and vaccine equity. The full message has been reposted below:
Dear PATA Members and Industry Colleagues,
This past month has seen an exciting cascade of border openings and relaxation of protocols at least across ASEAN. I was fortunate to participate in STB's Travel Industry Conference the week after they announced the relaxation of protocols (ranging from no masks outdoors to allowing large scale social events and no quarantine for all vaccinated travellers). It felt like a mini-celebration in achieving that stage of opening up - albeit with cautious optimism. As the WHO pointed out recently, each nation is coming down the mountain in a different way. They advised 'Exit strategy has to be careful especially when you've been successful keeping transmissions so low.’
PATA CEO Liz Ortiguera at Singapore Tourism Board’s Tourism Industry Conference 2022.
L/R: Liz Ortiguera, CEO, PATA; Alvin Tan, Minister of State; Keith Tan, CE, STB
Reunions abound now - a commonly heard refrain here in Asia is "I'm seeing my (parents, children, friends) back home in XXXX - I'm visiting for the first time in 2+ years". It seemed the majority of my friends were either on extended long haul trips for both leisure and business or were happily escaping for the weekend to Phuket/Bali/etc. Personally, I'm laying low right now before flying out for an important family event in the US. So now, joyful reunions were photographed at airports and border crossings. And on Tuesday evening, I was able to enjoy live jazz for the first time in possibly two years since it was prohibited up until mid-April. (Yes, there's science behind this one. Since COVID is airborne, aerosol scientists have shown loud talking, singing, and instrument-playing magnifies the spread of the virus). When you've been deprived of experiences like seeing family, having celebrations and hearing live music - you gain a renewed, deepened appreciation for them.
With the world reopening, albeit early stage here in Asia, my team and I are avidly planning three upcoming physical/in-person PATA events - Destination Marketing Forum in Songkhla, Thailand (Aug 2 - 4), PATA Annual Summit in Ras Al Khaimah (Oct 25-27) and another soon to be announced event ;). We're keen to make them experiential and conducive to reconnecting our strong travel community from across the region and around the globe. Stand by for more details.
Lastly, while the world is, fortunately, opening up more, the pandemic is still very much present and evolving - in all our countries. The US just saw the triggered dropping of mask mandates on numerous air carriers. I may be an outlier among travel leaders saying this but I would still advocate the use of good quality masks (not just any) when in high traffic, crowded areas. This is not confined to travel - a crowded shopping mall or grocery is just as risky as a crowded air terminal. Manage the risk to yourself, the community around you and, most particularly, those most vulnerable. The last thing you want is repeated cases of COVID, Long COVID or exposing your more vulnerable family and friends.
I'll end this note by sharing some news from our friends at WHO Foundation:
"While people in high-income countries get back to the things they love, many in low-income countries remain restricted and vulnerable to infection. Vaccine inequity puts everyone at risk, with low vaccination rates creating the ideal conditions for new variants of COVID-19 to emerge." "We are still seeing 1.5million cases of COVID-19 globally every day."
2.8 Billion people have still not had the first vaccine - some are even medical front-liners. WHO Foundation has released a new mini video on this topic:
If you'd like to support our efforts on addressing vaccine equity, please contact communications@pata.org.
